tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52365506343991536692024-03-13T12:12:53.555+00:00A Thousand HatsComments, articles, links and general musings on whatever topic I happen to be wearing a 'hat' for at the time. Although this will usually be about miniature wargaming, painting or sculpting.Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-48512058949866767882014-02-17T11:36:00.001+00:002014-02-17T11:40:19.148+00:00Kings Of War Elves and #miniaturemondayI managed to finish off a few more bits for my Mantic elf army last week.Here's a 10 man unit of Palace Guard:And here's a bolt thrower too:I bought the stuff for the army 18 months ago and I'm determined to get it finished before June this year. That way I'll have a fully painted force to take to the Kings of War Tournament in Nottingham in mid-June.It's been to two tournaments already in two Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-69603396489114554602014-02-14T17:52:00.001+00:002014-02-14T17:57:00.602+00:00Warmachine Journeyman LeagueI've recently joined a Warmachine journeyman league being run at Derby Wargames Society.
It's being run monthly rather than weekly so those of with busy home lives can get involved.
The league is only a couple of weeks old and I've lost all three of my games so far but it's been fun playing a new game. I'd only had a single demo game about 8 months ago before the league started so I'm very Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-61882911298127959782014-02-14T17:31:00.000+00:002014-02-14T17:57:24.654+00:00Like a phoenix rising or maybe just a really sleepy bear...I've not posted anything here for over two years - crikey!
This is mainly due to using twitter as a way of broadcasting my hobby activity but also due to not being disciplined enough to put the time aside to actually post regularly.
So in an effort to rectify the situation I'm going to attempt to post weekly for a little while and see how I get on - I need to get a bit of a rhythm going. I haveCarl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-77715065860330243832012-02-29T17:07:00.000+00:002012-02-29T17:07:10.514+00:00Look what came in the post today!A week or so ago Spinning Dice Games were running a little competition via facebook and twitter, you can see their blog post about it here with the two prizes of tickets to Salute up for grabs, along with a sprue of Mantic Games' minis.
I retweeted the competition and even threw one of my own hats in the ring too with an entry via twitter.
Well... a few days later I received a DM on twitter Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-14738916424666075382012-01-23T11:24:00.001+00:002012-01-23T11:26:50.497+00:00Miniature Painting 2012 - bit of a planOver on the Meeples and Miniatures blog Neil has recently published a plan of the miniatures he wishes to paint this year. (If you pop over to take a look at his post you'll see that it's pretty ambitious!)
Neil's post gave me a bit of a mental prod so I thought I'd put an outline of a plan together myself.
Like many miniature gamers I've got a large collection of unpainted minis and Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-42345247730610597992011-12-20T15:16:00.001+00:002011-12-20T15:34:13.739+00:00It's been a funny old year...Well, we're nearly at the end of the year and it was February when I last posted to this blog. Back then I was posting to say that I was about to post more content. Obviously that didn't work out too well - doh!
I've had a busy, if funny (as in strange), old year.
On the non-gaming front I've been ruminating about changing the direction of my career and, when there's bills to pay and family Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-16541758464100203472011-02-25T16:22:00.000+00:002011-02-25T16:22:20.176+00:00I've not heard that name in a long time, a long time...I've not posted on here for nearly a year and that's pretty feeble by any stretch of the writers block.
So consider this a small rumble of distant thunder before I actually come back and post some 'proper' content.
I've been playing a lot of games (40k, Warmaster Ancients and lots of board games) over the past 12 months, painted some minis and pushed a couple of game designs closer to Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-73422437646936991992010-04-16T17:20:00.000+01:002010-04-16T17:20:57.914+01:00Setting up terrain & objectives in games of 40k (or any other wargame)Over on Ron's 40k fromthewarp blog he's recently posted a piece about using area terrain features without a clearly defined area (no base/hard edges).
It's an interesting approach more akin to True Line of Sight (TLOS) skirmish gaming than the competitive mass combat game that 40k has become over recent years. (Yes 40k uses TLOS but it's a bit of hybrid in practice).
He also brushes on another Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-46456787566162650662010-02-21T11:52:00.001+00:002010-02-21T11:56:50.981+00:00A need for a bit of focusI've been very busy hobby wise recently, unfortunately I seem to have been 'busy doing nothing' and don't actually seem to be making any noticeable headway on any of the projects I'm working on.
And that is the problem - I'm working on lots of different projects.
Working on multiple projects, when done well, can be a great way to keep your mind inspired, and your creativity flowing. On the flipCarl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-31468136399463708662010-01-21T21:22:00.005+00:002010-01-21T21:53:00.938+00:00False start - but done some mini painting this yearOkay... updating every week didn't last, well a week.But I have managed to get some mini painting done this week. I started and completed one of Black Scorpion Miniatures Alien Critters.Still not sure about the base - might have to paint the rim black as the hazard markings might be a bit 'loud'.I've also cleaned up Hasslefree Miniatures Dionne, another Black Scorpion Miniatures Critters and Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-7667539922293097302010-01-05T14:22:00.004+00:002010-01-05T14:33:07.371+00:00Goodbye 2009, hello 2010!With the seasonal festivities behind us and a new year already started I've had a chance to think about what I'm going to do with this blog.I'm going to try taking a leaf out of Inso's book Inso's World and post one update a week (probably on a Saturday - Inso does two a week but I'm not trying for that yet).They won't necessarily be huge but at least they'll be more regular than my past efforts.Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-37851166351991538442009-11-11T22:26:00.004+00:002009-11-11T22:40:34.166+00:00An odd coincidenceI've been reading the Elric novels again over the last few months and have a hankering to build a warhammer fantasy battle force.I've not played WFB for quite a long time and after a discussion with a few other gamers on twitter decided that I'd go the route of the Dark Elves as a base army book to build my Elric and Melnibonean themed army.I rooted out my copy of White Dwarf which featured the Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-80204289753999042712009-11-10T21:14:00.004+00:002009-11-10T22:10:01.801+00:00Building a Blood Angel Battle Company - Part 1 - PlanningI've decided that seeing as I'm 'into' Blood Angels now I'm going to build a full Battle Company.I've been kicking the idea around for a little while - well a long while actually as I really like the idea of the half-deranged Captain Tycho. Despite that fact that his in-game abilities are mediocre his back story is cool - assigned to combat duties on a permanent basis by the Chaplain because he Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-61285575768920999712009-10-19T23:37:00.006+01:002009-10-20T21:03:59.356+01:00First experience of facing a tourney player and list - Blood Angels vs OrksAt DWS On Monday I faced a chap called Alex with a very meaty Ork force.He's going to be playing in Heat 3 of the 40k Throne of Skulls in Notts, UK this November and is trying to get 10 games in with an Ork army to get a feel for how it plays.We played a 1500pt game and his list consisted roughly of:Battlewagon - Ghazghkull & 5 MeganobzBattlewagon - 15 boyz, Nob PK, Big Mek with Kustom Force Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-45416670115384408612009-10-13T16:42:00.012+01:002009-10-13T17:49:58.397+01:00500pt and 1500pt Blood Angels 40k ListsThe 1500pt game against Orks didn't happen the other night (should be next Monday now) I had two games of 500pt 40k in 40 minutes vs Tau instead.Both games resulted in my Blood Angels tabling the Tau on turn 5, the chap playing the Tau force hasn't really been playing that long so has a restricted model collection to base his builds around and is still learning the ropes with regards what 'works'Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-84347302518253483302009-10-10T22:26:00.005+01:002009-10-10T22:51:27.085+01:00Current Blood Angels 40k 1500pt listWe play a lot of different sized games of 40k down at the club. Some players prefer the small scale games of 1000/1250, the staple size for many seems to be 1750pts but tourney practise games are played at 1500.We even have odd sessions of combat patrol (400pt) games.We seem to have a good spread of armies too with two IG armies, two or three Ork forces, two CSM armies, Daemons, a couple of Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-20700284734882819962009-10-10T22:15:00.004+01:002009-10-10T22:21:00.644+01:00Some say Ceril, I say Elric!Picked this mini up from Hasslefree Miniatures earlier this year and have finally started putting something on him.A bit of work on his skin so far.White base and then a mix of badab black and asurman blue wash, watered down and applied over the white base.He's also got red eyes although that's not very visible in the photo.I'm planning on using distressed cotton wool soaked in black paint to Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-11186581606850169602009-10-10T21:57:00.007+01:002009-10-10T22:58:01.768+01:00Blood Angels 40k force - some Work in ProgressI've been playing with Blood Angels in 40k since joining the Derby Wargames Society earlier this year. Previously I was a Space Wolves and Ork player (with small outings with Dark Eldar).After over 6 months my force is still a long way away from being painted. The Shame! :)But I have got a few done over the months (in between other bits and pieces).Below is one 5-man combat squad (they're from a Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-36453552441932511562009-09-17T14:24:00.004+01:002009-10-10T21:57:08.605+01:001951 trailer for Raiders of the Lost ArkI saw this and had to share - very clever.Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-78501310454834071612009-09-15T20:45:00.003+01:002009-10-10T21:56:34.131+01:00Where does the time go?!Over a month has flown by and no updates - very shoddy.I can only blame the school holidays for my month(ish) long state of semi-exhaustion in the evenings.But that's all gone now and I've finally got some energy to devote back to hobby time - hurrah.The feedback on my last post about PDF publishing has been very enlightening and I thank everyone who took the time to post a comment and let me Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-9470073237231462672009-07-30T13:31:00.034+01:002009-07-30T23:18:50.616+01:00Out of the Hat: What's your opinion of PDFs vs printed games and rulebooks?Over the last 20 years I've seen a lot of changes in the tabletop gaming industry, one of which is the emergence of tabletop games and rulebooks being available in digital form, namely as a PDF. The dramatic changes in publishing technologies coupled with the growth of the internet and home PC ownership has made the once, quite difficult job of publishing games so much easier.The days of needing Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-50752238085028705462009-07-29T16:29:00.007+01:002009-07-29T17:04:36.163+01:00Plastic Skeletons WIPI've had these little skeletons for what seems like forever and never put them together. They're the original plastic skeletons from Games Workshop from about 20 years ago.A mixture of needing some skeletons for RPGs (specifically a Dragon Warriors adventure I fancy running as a one-off for old times sake) and for a simple 'Argonauts' inspired board game design I've been pushing around for ages Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-33813904431275302622009-07-28T20:55:00.012+01:002009-07-28T21:45:53.158+01:00Games night at Derby Wargames SocietyWell, last night was games night at the Derby Wargames Society and I got two games of 1st edition Space Hulk in and was introduced to a WWII dog fighting card game called 'Down in Flames'.We played the first mission 'Suicide Mission' in Space Hulk, twice, taking it in turns to be the marines. Playing with the timer on 2.5 minutes (not that you need that long once you've played the game a few Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-6716243746934796532009-07-28T20:46:00.001+01:002009-07-28T21:44:04.848+01:00World of Twilight - alternative fantasy skirmish gameHasslefree Miniatures have published a new game (along with the range of miniatures) called World of Twilight.Oh and just in case you're stumbled into this blog looking for that teenage Vampire that's sweeping the entertainment world - it's got absolutely nothing to do with that!The World of Twilight game and setting is the work of creator Mike Thorp, who along with designing and developing the Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5236550634399153669.post-48368257483696563022009-07-27T15:52:00.004+01:002009-07-27T16:01:41.214+01:00Necromunda Orlock gang WIPThe new Necromunda campaign kicks off tonight at the Derby Wargames Society and here is my WIP Orlock gang.They're not finished yet (well except for my test piece) as I'm supposed to be playing 1st edition Space Hulk tonight so I'm not expecting my first Necromunda game until next week.I'll be taking them along tonight though just in case Space Hulk falls through.Carl Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08839386900606623269noreply@blogger.com0